JetBlue Offering People 25% Off Their Next Flight Every Time A Baby Cried On A Plane Was The Worst Idea Ever
Today- JetBlue’s recent Mother’s Day advertisement will give you something to cry about — with happy tears, that is. Whether we like to admit it or not, we’ve all had that moment of anxiety while waiting to see if the mother walking down the aisle with a fussy baby will plop down into the seat next to us. And while some people have come to associate flying with frustration these days, JetBlue had passengers singing an entirely different tune on a recent flight from New York to Long Beach, California.
The #FlyBabies ad, which focuses on the special relationship between a mother and child, and the worries parents often face ahead of a long flight, encouraged passengers to smile, instead, at the sound of a cry. That’s because for every cry heard during Flight 213, passengers received a percentage off their next trip. It wasn’t a small one either — 25 percent off for any and every tearful moment. Though the airline does not have plans to run the promotion again, passengers were happy this time around to have heard the cries of four babies. For them, that meant a free round trip ticket flying JetBlue.
Look, I am not saying that the people that flew on this flight didn’t deserve to get free flights from JetBlue. They clearly did. The only thing worse than hearing a baby crying on a cross-country flight is hearing four babies that are not yours melting down in a metal box soaring 30,000 feet high. And I understand the ad campaign appealing to moms right before Mother’s Day. But the problem is I love JetBlue. If possible, it’s all I fly. And don’t worry, my wife always is the one that has to suffer as the one sitting verrrrry cozily in the seat next to me (seat as in singular, nbd). JetBlue has been the new, cool airline that has things like the RedZone channel for a while now. If nothing major changed for the next 20 years, JetBlue would still be that in my mind. But after this commercial hit and went viral, you know word is going to spread about JetBlue being baby friendly the same way word spread about which parents would allow drinking at their house during high school. Because young moms are squawking everywhere. Message boards, Facebook posts, and phone group texts to name three.
And trust me, I do NOT want that to be what JetBlue becomes. Just little fuckers bawling their eyes out everywhere is not how you want to travel. I have an 18 month old that barely cries but will throw the occasional shit fit and even I have the decency to avoid flying at all costs. My wife and I have decided to ruin our social lives in the name of raising a family, no need to ruin other people’s days. I imagine 90% of parents give significantly less of a shit about that than I do. Pretty soon JetBlue flights will be closer to romper rooms than a way to get from Point A to Point B with some Terra Blue Chip treats along the way.
And lets say that JetBlue actually instituted this policy for every flight. Do you know what kind of anarchy that would cause? Have you ever seen the lines at some places in New York when there is a giveaway going on? Or a Black Friday deal? Imagine that except in the air with people trying to body up your baby like Charles Oakley used to do back in the 90s all in the name of trying to get some tears in order to save a few bucks on their next flight. And if that happens, nobody wins.